Articles Tagged ‘Crashgate’

Disgraced Briatore starts court case.

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 - Posted by Jack Sargeant

Flavio Briatore

The former Renault team boss, disgraced Flavio Briatore has today appeared in a French court for the start of a hearing against the FIA. Briatore wants his lifetime motorsport ban overturned and £900,000 in damages.

Briatore received his lifetime ban from motorsport due to his alleged involvement in the ‘crashgate‘ scandal, where Nelson Piquet Jr. was told to deliberately crash in order to let his teammate Fernando Alonso win at the Singapore Grand Prix 2008. Briatore still denies any involvement in what was dubbed by some as ‘The worst act of cheating in the history of sport’.

On the FIA’s decision to ban Briatore, he said that the FIA’s president at the time Max Mosley was;

“Blinded by an excessive desire for personal revenge”

- an argument stemming from Briatore’s disagreements previously with the FIA, where Briatore lead the group wanting to create a breakaway series following the rows over a budget cap.

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Posted in FIA, News | No Comments »

Briatore accuses FIA of “sham”, wants €1m in damages

Saturday, November 14th, 2009 - Posted by Formula1Blogger

Flavio Briatore

Flavio Briatore has this week accused the FIA of holding a “sham hearing” in the lead up to his subsequent lifetime ban from Formula 1 after the “crashgate” episode, where he stood accused of conspiring to intentionally crashing Nelson Piquet Jr’s Renault in order for team mate Fernando Alonso to win the Singapore Grand Prix. Briatore is also looking to receive at least €1m in damages as he takes the FIA to a french court to overturn the decision.

Briatore has a hearing in Paris scheduled to start on the 24th November, where he hopes to quite publicly dirty the name of the FIA, whilst additionally clearing his in order to return to the sport. Briatore has recently released the details of his case into the public domain where he stated,

“The FIA neglects to mention that, according to declarations by one of its own vice-presidents to the media, the world council’s decision was rather the outcome of secret negotiations on the eve of the sham hearing,”

One of the key elements to Briatore’s case is a quote from FIA vice-president Mohamed Ben Sulayem, where he said to the Abu Dhabi National newspaper,

“We are not here to hang teams, we did our negotiations before and everybody is happy with the result.”

The FIA recently responded stating that they condemned the “selective leaking” of evidence from Briatore’s case by his lawyers, however Briatore was quick to deny such allegations stating that he has nothing to hide.

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Posted in FIA, News, Renault | No Comments »

Renault set to stay in Formula 1?

Thursday, November 5th, 2009 - Posted by Jack Sargeant

2008 Renault

After the bombshell of Toyota pulling out yesterday, it seemed we were heading for a double-whammy with Renault calling an emergency meeting in Paris. However the result of that meeting sounds positive and it seems Renault will continue on the F1 grid in 2010.

The Enstone based team have had a tough 2 years, finishing 4th and 8th in the constructors championships, as well as the departure of Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds following the ‘Crashgate’ race fixing scandal involving Nelson Piquet Jr.

The team’s managing director Jean-François Caubet said:

“We have already contracted our drivers, had our budget approved and are enrolled in the world championship. Season 2010 has begun already. We will not be world champions in 2010, but we do have hopes to be much improved.”

Update 05/11/09 21:58GMT

Despite these quotes coming out of Renault, they are still not confirming they will or will not be on the grid next year and will make a decision by the end of the year.

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Posted in News, Renault | No Comments »

Could Piquet Jr Return to F1 for Campos?

Sunday, November 1st, 2009 - Posted by Formula1Blogger

Nelson Piquet Jr

Some news in the paddock this weekend that is causing a stir is that the recently departed Nelson Piquet Jr is in talks with new Formula 1 team Campos for a race seat next year. Campos only hours earlier on Saturday confirmed that Bruno Senna would drive for the team, with Pedro de la Rosa rumoured to be his team mate.

Bernie Ecclestone was talking to the Daily Telegraph about the possiblity of Piquet Jr going to Campos,

“It’d be good wouldn’t it, another good name. That’s what’s being talked about actually.”

This will alarm some, due to the fact the Piquet Jr, central to the “crashgate” episode with Renault in 2008, escaped with no punishment earlier this year. Whereas his team bosses weren’t so lucky, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds were banned from the sport. Most believe Piquet Jr should have also received some kind of reprimand, he was at the wheel after all, however the FIA saw differently and gave him immunity for evidence.

At this time it is unknown why talks between the Spanish team Campos and de la Rose have stalled.

For more information on the Formula 1 driver lineup for 2010, check out our Ultimate Guide.

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Posted in Campos, Rumour | 1 Comment »

Flavio Briatore to sue FIA over Lifetime F1 Ban

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 - Posted by Formula1Blogger

Flavio Briatore

Flavio Briatore has confirmed that he will now sue the FIA over his lifetime ban from F1 which he received earlier this season. As you probably remember, Briatore was implicated as part of the Renault “Crashgate” episode where he was deemed to be one of the main culprits behind the plan for his driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash his car during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Briatore received a lifetime ban from the sport, this with Pat Symonds who received a 5 year ban, and Piquet Jr (you know, the guy that crashed the car) receiving immunity. Briatore said:

“The FIA has been used as a tool to exact vengeance on one man”

As such, he has now taken the FIA to the french courts in order to “resolve the matter justly and impartially”.

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Posted in News, Renault | No Comments »

Piquet Planned to goto Toro Rosso

Friday, October 16th, 2009 - Posted by Formula1Blogger

Nelson Piquet Jr

Nelson Piquet Senior has been talking to Gazzetta dello Sport regarding the recent crash scandal involving his son Nelson Piquet Junior, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds and also about Piquet Jr’s possible drive at Toro Rosso.

“It was (Flavio) Briatore who wanted an extension (for 2009). I wanted Nelsinho to leave Renault and had found him a seat at Toro Rosso with Gerhard Berger. But Nelsinsho wanted to stay with Renault because there was the chance that Alonso would go to Ferrari.”

This may be all pie in the sky for all we know, but it makes sense. Yet again we saw a driver like Piquet Jr sidelined for the main event, this being Fernando Alonso. Throughout 2009 we’ve heard rumours of discontent from Piquet and Piquet Jr alike, Briatore threatening Piquet Jr with the sack, even before races. Not a nice working environment by all means.

Piquet goes on to describe his feelings on Briatore:

“He deserved it. Admittedly it wasn’t his idea, but to convince a young driver to do something like that is huge. He should stay far away from racing.”

Piquet also implicates Alonso in the crashgate scandal of last year, saying he was fully complicite with the plan:

“Do you think Alonso would conceive a race where he starts 15th and makes a pit stop almost straight away? It was a perfect plan.”

Piquet senior sounds like he’s been eating a few sour grapes recently – with Piquet Jr’s chances at landing another drive in F1 very very slim, his involvement too is slipping away.

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Posted in News, Renault, Toro Rosso | No Comments »

Massa’s Comments “Not Important” – Alonso

Friday, October 16th, 2009 - Posted by Formula1Blogger

Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso has responded to Felipe Massa’s recent comments about the Renault “crashgate” incident during interviews with the press. Massa this week claimed that Alonso was more than aware about the plan for Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash his car at the Singapore Grand Prix. Alonso responded:

“It’s not very important for me. I’m not too worried. It will not affect anything, me or the relationship. I actually think we will be great. I think it will be a good group and we will be very strong next year.”

This was a pretty measured response from Alonso, desperately trying to dampen any potential fires before his move over to Ferrari in 2010. In fact, Alonso is more than happy to “have a chat” with Massa this weekend at the Brazilian Grand Prix

“Maybe we will have a chat, but I’m sure it won’t be about this matter. If we do have a chat it will be more about his recovery, that he seems well, about his experience at Ferrari.”

We’re not convinced about this ourselves. This isn’t the greatest way to potentially start a new racing partnership. Massa ended up retracting his statements yesterday (probably because Ferrari told him to), and claiming they were just “a hunch”, however he’s obviously still hurting from the whole incident.

We speculate that the reason why he is so fired up about the whole thing is due to the fact that he now realises the 2008/09 season was now his last real chance at the title. He likely feels that Ferrari will give priority to the Alonso, a proven 2 time world champion, over Massa – who has always struggled to come out on top within the Ferrari driver team.

In fact, we’d put money on the partnership not lasting more than one season. This is clearly going to be a McLaren 2007 situation, however this time Alonso will win out.

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Posted in Ferrari, News | 2 Comments »

Massa still upset by Renault Race Fix

Thursday, October 15th, 2009 - Posted by Formula1Blogger

Felipe Massa

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa has whipped up a new storm within the F1 paddock (and Brazil for that matter) with recent comments about the Renault crash scandal. He suggests fellow Renault driver Fernando Alonso was also in the know about the race fixing. Autosport quotes Massa as saying:

“…Alonso was part of the problem. He knew. We can not know it [but] of course he knew. [It's an] absolute certainty.”

Ferrari were quick to confirm Massa’s remarks by releasing a follow up statement to the press:

“What I’ve said is the outcome of a hunch I’ve had and is not based on any concrete evidence,”

Massa is clearly still very upset with the whole thing. Our “hunch” is that he now realises that this was probably the only season where he would have won the drivers championship. Since Alonso is now joining Ferrari in 2010, Massa will likely be driver number 2 for the team, with Alonso certain to take more of the Ferrari win pie (based on previous records).

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Posted in Ferrari, News, Renault | 1 Comment »